Orders
by JoJo1812
Summary: Will spent almost his entire life following King Juandres' orders. But when the King suddenly decides for kidnapping Princess Cassandra, and when Will meets the rest of the Araluan company...will it still be as easy to obey Juandres' wishes? AU
1. Prologue

**A/N**

**Just testing.**

**This has nothing with the original plot to do.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice**

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><p>"We won't stand a chance!"<p>

Will twisted his hands nervously behind his back but kept his face cold and neutral. King Juandres, the fat and arrogant King and Protector of the country named Iberion, took a little sip of his white wine and inspected the glass he held in his hand. He wrinkled his nose which made his little neatly trimmed mustache move a bit.

"Says who?" He raised an eyebrow and finally laid his eyes on Will. "I don't understand why you are so against this." He had a little warningly spark in his brown eyes.

_Oh, you understand it very well you stupid-_

Will tried to not hammer some sense into the King's head. Will had been one of the King's closest men and he had supported Juandres wishes for a very long time, but sometimes Will just couldn't understand the big man's way of thinking arount certain topics.

"Your Majesty has already made Prince Amando of Aslava upset", Will tried to resonate. "Can't you wait a little until we are sure we can handle the both of them? The risk of being at war on two fronts puts me on edge, I'm afraid."

"If we wait, young master William, the opportunity will pass us by, and then we will not have the gold I need to pay Prince Amando's father. This means that we need to go to action _before_ we suddenly are in war."

"Yes, but-"

"But what, Will?" Juandres' voice got harder and you could tell he was annoyed, as usual. "I was giving orders, not asking for advice." He looked around the table where other men, in ranking even higher than Will's, just looked down.

_Cowards._

"I gathered you here today because I wanted to inform you of my _brilliant_ plan. That we kidnap the Araluan princess against a ransom." The King leaned back and smiled, obviously happy with his 'smart' idea. He took off one of his gloves and looked at his manicured nails. "If you have any complaints", he threw a short glance at Will, "you can leave a note to one of my secretaries."

He then went back to the inspection of his nails, pretending that he was alone in his office. Everyone got the message and quickly left the room. When they all got out they looked insecure and confused, and the most of them left (apparently not wanting to have to deal with the problem). Will frowned.

"He's bloody insane", he tiredly stated and turned his attention towards his close friends: Sir Christian, Master Aldante, Lady Daniella and his all time best friend Adrian. "You guys need to speak with Juandres and get him to change is mind."

Daniella pursed her lips and sat down at a lonely chair against the wall. "It ain't a secret that Juandres sometimes gets some weird ideas in his head, but it doesn't matter." She put her brown hair up in a string. "And you know, if someone should talk to the King it should be _you_. Why would he listen to us?"

Aldante put on his famous smirk. "You are the one he's calling every five minutes. You're just like his little puppy, jumping at his every call!" He then barked just to annoy his friend even further.

Will glared dangerously at his friend and smacked his arm really hard. "Oh, shut it!"

But he knew it was true. Over the past few years it had shown that he was more and more like the King's personal assistant, though it had never gone official. He sighed. "Every time Juandres gets one of his stupid ideas, it makes me want to rip my hair out. You have no idea how much energy it takes to set things straight again."

"We've noticed", Adrian scratched his head which kind of messed up his black hair. "But you know, the King's wishes are everyone's duty. Maybe we just need to…listen to him? Do what he asks for."

"But he's putting us all in danger!" Will exclaimed. "He's putting the whole _Iberion_ in danger. He thinks his plan will prevent a war, but instead we will get _two_. Now, where's the sense in that?"

No one said anything as everyone knew he was right. But what could they do? They all knew the answer: nothing. A heavy silence settled between them as everyone thought of the consequenses the King's plan could cause.

"WILL!"

Will winced and looked around. Josephine, a small well-upholstered woman, came towards him with fast steps. She was one of the King's secretaries. Her hair was red, just like her face always was. And she looked annoyingly at him, just like she always did.

"What?" He knew very well what it was.

"The King wants to have a word with you." And with those words she left.

"It's, what, the 6th time today?" Aldante looked pointedly at him.

Will just gave him a tired glare before he went to Juandres office…again. Better not to make him wait.

The thoughts of Juandres' plan circulated in his head. Will actually could understand the way Juandres was thinking. Iberion had been in Aslava's debt for about three years now, and the Aslavian prince started to get impatient. To get a ransom from a rich country like Araluen would pretty much solve Juandres' problems. The problem with Juandres' plan was that the King didn't think about what the furthers consequenses would be. No, the King was all focused on getting rid of one problem at a time. Will knew that when things got wrong, because there was no question about that, it was he that would get the blame. The people in the castle had a weird picture in their head that said that Will could influence on Juandres' decisions.

The people had no idea of how wrong they had.

Will got infront of the door and braced himself. He did his best to ignore the headache he felt was starting to show.

_Knock-knock-knock._

He opened the door shortly after and stepped inside. He saw Juandres sitting behind his desk with general Leandro by his side. Leandro was famous for his deadly seriousness and mean attitude. Will really didn't want to fight with that man again. He had never really liked the general and he knew that the feeling was mutual. When Leandro met his eyes it was obvious that there was a strong hate between them.

"Your Majesty?" Will slowly neared the desk.

"Where have you been?" Juandres didn't even look up. "Come here and tell me what you think."

That didn't sound good. Will frowned and nervously looked down at the documents Juandres held. He saw a map of Araluen and he literally felt his headache getting stronger and stronger.

"General Leandro and I have been planning this for a couple of weeks now, and now when my ideas are official I want you to tell me if you think we need to change anything."

Will fought the urge to roll his eyes. Yeah, like Juandres would listen to him.

The map wasn't so detailed. In Will's eyes it was as simple as it could get. "It looks good, but are you sure that you want to do this? I'm sure that with a new plan we can be able to pay Aslava by the end of next year."

Juandres sighed and shook his head. "Why do you need to be so stubborn? Can't you just listen to me for once?"

_I always listen to you. _

"Yes, of course, but I just thought that-"

"Have you not heard what the King just said?" Leandro interrupted him with a dark voice. "This is his decision. He's already made his call."

Will closed his mouth and glared at the general with as much venom as he could. Man, how he hated that general with all his heart. "The King asked me what I thought."

"And now we know,_ thank you_."

It went quiet after that. The tension was so thick that it was almost painful.

"General is right", Juandres ignored the harsh tone the general had had and looked down at the map. "You may go now."

Will took a deep breath. "If that's Your Majesty's wish." With those words he went to the doors, but in the next second he stopped and asked: "When are you starting…with this?"

The King gave Will a satisfied smirk. "Within a month."


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**I'd like to thank my reviewer and those who favorited and follows this story ;)**

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><p><strong>Iberion<strong>

**Three weeks later**

"Cheater!" Adrian exclaimed and glared at Will. "You bloody cheater! You think I didn't see that?"

"See what?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not stupid." Adrian scoffed and crossed his arms. "I saw that ace up your sleeve and I want my money back."

"Hey, I can't help that you're a sore loser." Will counted the silver and gold-coins with a victorious smile. "You want to know the real reason you lost? It's because I'm simply too awesome."

Adrian frowned. "No, I lost because you're one of the most dishonest men in this country! Don't you ever feel ashamed for _stealing_ my money?" He turned over towards Aldante and Daniella for some support. "You saw that right? Come on, tell him."

Aldante sighed and shook his head. This wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last, that Adrian accused someone for cheating. He truly was a sore loser. At the same time, Will was one big ass cheater...just like himself.

Adrian saw that Aldante wasn't going to pick sides, so he turned to Daniella.

"Dani, you know Will cheated. Do you honestly believe that he deserves all that money? All _your_ money?" he tried.

Daniella rolled her eyes. She didn't know if the accusation was correct, but she sure did see an opportunity to get her money back.

"Look, Will, if you cheated, I sure damn will have every blasted coin of mine back", she said with a stern voice, but a jokingly glint was in her eyes.

Will looked up with a hurt expression. "Dani, you can't seriously believe him! You've known me your whole life. Have I ever been dishonest...to you?"

"BULLSHIT!" Adrian shouted. "Please, don't say that you actually fall for his lies!" His green eyes went huge while he shook his head. "Unbelievable! Aldante, please stop this...thief!"

Aldante took a sip from his beer. "You know Adrian, instead of complaining all the time, maybe you should start learning the game." He smirked and Adrian huffed.

"You cheat too? Oh come on guys! Are you trying to make me poor? Are you? Does my suffering amuse you?"

Everyone except him laughed. Adrian was always way to dramatic, no matter the occasion.

"You guys are making me si-"

Before he could finish his sentence Christian opened the door of the inn with force. His face was flushed and his blonde hair was a total mess, and he was breathing heavily.

"Will!" He hurried towards their table with a concerned look.

"What's wrong?" Will frowned.

"They are here, and they have brought the Princess with them."

It took some time for Will to process the news, but when it did he cursed loudly. "Those idiots really made it? Well, look at that..."

"You seem surprised", Dani stated with her eyebrows raised.

"I always thought that the men in green would stop them", Will admitted. He scowled and scratched his head. "I honestly never thought that it would go this far. It suddenly got real." The surprise in his voice was more evident than ever.

Will took a big sip from his beer keg and felt absolutely exhausted. He had been nervous for the past three weeks because of this, and his last hope was that the Rangers would somehow put an end to this madness.

"We are doomed", he said and his friends gave him sad looks.

"It can't be that bad..." Daniella started carefully.

"Of course this is bad! Do you realize what will happen now? Do you realize how complicated and dangerous it would be... _will _be... to have Araluen as an enemy? This will take so much planning that I doubt we'll ever ge past this."

Aldante sighed and put down his cards. "It's only a matter of time before the Rangers will be coming to get her back."

"How does Juandres plan on taking care of that problem?" Daniella asked.

The Rangers that were working for the Araluan king were famous. There were so many heroic stories about them that made the regim of Iberion gulp. But Will was convinced that they were all exagerrated. Though it didn't make him less nervous.

"He never thought of it", Will said with a sad smile. "When I asked him he told me that it was a problem in the future that we will take care of then. The problem is that _that_ said future is way too close for my liking."

"Oh." Daniella bit her lip and sunk together. "Don't worry, Will. We'll figure something out. Together." She put her hand supportingly on his shoulder.

Aldante grew tired of the sad aura that settled in the group and gave them all an annoyed look. "Please, stop it. Just stop it right there. You make it sound like the Rangers are invincible. Puh-leas! They aren't magicians, like they make everyone believe. They eat, they breathe, they shit and they die! We'll just kill them, abracadabra simsalabim POFF - and they're gone!"

It went silent after that. They all stared at Aldante like he had grown another head. Suddenly Will started to laugh, which was followed by Christian and Adrian as well. Daniella just rolled her eyes and smiled.

"You're right", Will said. "You're absolutely right!" He shook his head and felt a bit calmer. Then he gathered up the cards and smirked. "Who wants to play another round?" The tension fell off almost immediately.

Adrian sent him a death-glare.

**oOoOo**

Will and Christian exchanged confused glances as they stood there before their king. Will shifted his weight on his other foot as they watched how Juandres ate a chocolate cake without paying attention to anyone.

"What is Your Majesty claiming?" Christian carefully asked.

Juandres looked annoyingly at them both since they looked like questing marks. "Do you need to wash your ears, boy? Don't make me repeat myself."

Will cleared his throat. "Could you maybe elaborate what you mean?"

Christian nudged him with his elbow when Juandres shot him a glare.

Will realized what he just said and his eyes widened. "I mean, not that you're not clear enough. Of course we understand. I-I mean, we should understand…but… Ehm." Nice work, dumbass.

"Oh please", Juandres sighed and held up his hand. "Stop talking. I'm getting a headache." He left the chocolate cake for a while and turned his attention to the wine, before he returned to the chocolate cake yet again. He then continued: "We've caught the princess-"

"How?" Christian couldn't help himself. The question had been in his head ever since he found out about the plan. He knew about their Green Men and their "magic". Araluen was one of the most successful and powerful countries, so it didn't make any sense that the princess could get so easily kidnapped.

Instead of sighing Juandres gave them a proud smirk. "We are not as dumb as you may think, my young friend. It went well and that's all you need to know. Now, we've caught the princess, but a big warrior came with her." Juandres face darkened. "He cost me seven men, and I lost another nine more men on their land."

Will sadly shook his head. Sixteen was not a big number, but it sure well wasn't a small one either. "So where is he now?"

"I told my men to throw him in the prison cell with the girl."

"And what about the Green Ones?" Christian threw a glance at Will. The Green Men were the last thing they wanted on their mind right now.

For a second Juandres looked insecure, but that expression was quickly replaced by an arrogant smile. "Sure they will come after her, but they will be easy opponents. Soon, I'll get my money and King Duncan will get his daughter back."

Will gathered courage to what he was now about to say. "Your Majesty, I hope you are fully aware that you won't get Auraluen's trust ever again? This has now ruined our relation with a very powerful-"

"Will! Stop it!" Juandres snapped. "Believe it or not, but you're really getting on my nerves with your nagging all the time. You're even worse than my wife, dammit! You have told me that three times already. Yes, I am fully aware of the consequences, but Aslava has more power than what that little island ever will get."

Will sighed, and he couldn't help to feel a bit offended. "I understand."

"So what do you expect us to do?" Christian was getting tired of this. They weren't getting anywhere with this conversation.

"The Green Men are on their way", Juandres made a grimace. "'_Oo, look at us. We are the King's men, and we are dangerous _'", he mimicked with a squeaky voice.

Will resisted the urge to laugh and shake his head. Juandres was one of the most terrifying person he knew, and also one of the most childish.

"Anyway, Sir Christian, I need you to help general Leandro with the…protection, or whatever you call it. Be prepared when those spinach-clothing morons come." Juandres made a disgusted noise and drank some more wine and a painful silence fell upon them. "Well, what are you waiting for?!"

Christian looked a little disoriented before he quickly went out of the room. The doors closed slowly and squeakily before it ended up with a loud bang.

"I told those idiots to fix the dammed doors for a month now." Juandres looked at Will. "Make sure they do it tonight."

Will immediately wrote that in his notebook. It was bound in black leather and he carried that notebook with him at all times.

"Uhm, excuse me for asking…" Will hesitated, "…but don't you think that the Green Ones won't let their appearance getting noticed."

"Hmpf!" Juandres snorted and rolled his eyes. "You really think that they are that smart that we won't notice them?" He sighed and thoughtfully shot a look at Will. "But you do have a point there", he murmured and scoffed. "Then I guess you'll be in charge of that. "

And that's the consequences for not keeping your mouth shut.

**oOoOo**

**Araluen**

**At the same time**

Duncan held his head in his hands. Everyone in the small room were eyeing each other carefully, all of them with a sad look on their faces. Well, except for Halt, who rarely showed his emotions.

Suddenly Duncan's fist slammed onto the desk and Pauline winced. Duncan's anger was radiating through the room.

"That big, fat, slime ball!" He raised his voice. "Juandres really knows how to dance on my nerves! I've had enough of his bullshit."

"What do you suggest we do?" Baron Arald asked, even though everyone knew the answer.

"We'll get my Cassie back", the King gave him a stern look. "Those bloody Iberions won't get a penny, but we sure damn will get her back. I really wonder what that fat pig thinks with. I haven't met him for five years, but it appears he's got even stupider."

Almost everyone sighed or shook their heads. They were all bewildered by the actions of Iberion.

Duncan's eyes suddenly grew sad and he looked ten years older. His eyes almost pleadingly met Halt's and Crowley's. "I can't leave the country. If I leave now I'm afraid I'll break my oath and let down Araluen, especially now when there are so many complaints from the people. I need to stay and solve this."

Crowley raised his hand to stop the King from saying more. "It's fully understandable. I'll gather a small group that will take care of this. Don't you worry, my friend. Halt will be leading the company."

Duncan sighed with a small relief. "Thank you...thank you." His voice nearly broke out of exhaustion.

They all stayed in the room for another hour or so. When they got out of there everyone went their own way, but Halt was stopped by a knight.

Halt looked down at the hand that was on his shoulder before he looked up at Sir Rodney's face. He raised an eyebrow. He suspected that Rodney wanted to talk about his former apprentice, and he was right.

"I know that the princess is your highest priority…" Rodney trailed off with his words, and for a moment he actually looked a bit insecure and worried before he replaced it with determination. "But make sure the kid is in safe hands too."

Halt looked up at his friend and nodded. "Don't worry, I'll get them both back."

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><p><strong>AN**

**Sooo...**

**Review...maybe? :P **

**(btw, I'm sorry if there are any grammar/spelling mistakes. If there's anything big or irritating, please tell me and I'll fix it asap)**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**Wow! I never expected that lovely response I got from you ;) I'm glad you like it so far.**

**I'm kinda scared that I'll disappoint you with the future chaps :S**

**OBS! READ DOWN BELOW**

**I'm assuming (I'm actually pretty sure) that Flanagan was thinking of Spain when he "created" the country named Iberion. So in Iberion, they speak Iberonin (I guess?) which I'll take as Spanish. So… It may be confusing with two languages involved in this story, but I'm sure I'll work it out somehow. I mean, how hard can it be? ;)**

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><p><strong>Iberion<strong>

**Weeks later**

Halt sat in the tavern with the hood casting a shadow over his face. As usual he had chosen a table in the corner where he would be unseen, but yet see everything.

He and the rest of the company had been in the capital for two days now, and they still didn't know where to start. Of course they all had seen the beautiful castle that was towering over the city, and they knew that Cassandra probably was in there, but the question now was; do we try to get them out, or are we going to try to negotiate with the king? Halt almost shuddered at the latter option.

Halt was annoyed. They did had a plan, but it didn't turn out as they wanted. The castle was ridiculously protected, as if they were expecting them…which they doubtlessly did. At first it was planned that he and Gilan would "simply" sneak in, and miraculously get the princess out…and Horace as well.

They needed a new plan. If only they had-

Gilan and Alyss distracted his thoughts by loudly sitting down on the chairs around his table. Halt raised an eyebrow. "Did you get something useful?"

Alyss sighed and rested her elbows on the table with her head in her hands. "Damned Iberions!" She cursed, which was unusual for her. "The men seem to only have one thing on their minds, and half of them can't even speak the common tongue. They didn't take me so seriously either, and bribing does not help - believe me."

"Neither does this weather", Gilan complained and Alyss nodded in agreement.

Everything was so different in Iberion in their eyes. The sun was hotter and brighter, the people were olive-coloured and the girls weren't wearing that much clothing because of the temperature. The food was different; it was spicier. Not to mention that they were speaking another language too and the only one in their group that could speak it was George, and apparently his accent was terrible.

Because of the heat Alyss had to change into a shorter white dress. She couldn't stand to have her former warm dress that was fit for the Araluan climate. Halt and Gilan didn't have their original cloaks because they didn't want to get noticed, even though the group slightly did stand out.

"Halt-" Gilan started, but Halt cut him out.

"I know", he said. He had too noticed five minutes ago that there were two men who discreetly (or so they thought) eyed them suspiciously. Hopefully they weren't eavesdropping.

"You think it's serious, or are they just curious?" Gilan asked while looking into his cup of coffee.

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out later. Now", he turned his gaze to his fellows, "let's talk about our change of plans, shall we…?"

oOoOo

Will sat at his desk and just stared down at all the paperwork. The King's schedulefor the day was displayed before him and Will was supposed to meet Juandres outside room nr 197 in about ten minutes. Right now the King was in a meeting…probably pretending to listen to what his men had to say and rolling his eyes while muttering how boring it was.

Juandres had actually one day ordered Will to make the meetings funnier and 'less painful'. It took Will two weeks to figure out that it was impossible, and when he one day begged the council to sing out what they had to say they had to put their foot down. Juandres hadn't been happy with Will after that in a while.

Will sighed and gathered his notebook and some other documents before he slowly went to the room. On the way his thoughts travelled to the princess and the rangers. In all the days she had been there Will had only met her once, and it wasn't a nice meeting to sum it all up. But, Will had to admit, she was a sight to behold. She was different, with her pale skin and very blonde hair.

Will grinned. The knight that was with her had noticed Will's appreciating look and he didn't seem too happy about it.

His thoughts travelled further and now he was scowling. Will had sent some men out in the city to inform him if there was anything strange-looking going on. Yet nothing seemed to come up, which worried Will (but he wasn't surprised). The rangers were supposed to be here by now and Will was concerned that they had found a way to get away unnoticed around in these parts.

Suddenly something bumped into him and Will shockingly dropped the notes he had in his hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Master William!" A man around his age bent down to collect the papers for him. Will had been so deep in thought that didn't even notice this man running towards him. "I called for you several times, but you didn't hear me. Or…maybe you ignored me. Either way, I have important news! Or…at least I think it's important…"

Will recognized the man: Mario was his name. It was one of the men Will had sent out. Mario was tall and lean, and he was way too nervous all the time. He had it hard to loosen up.

"It's okay", Will took the papers back and smiled. "Now, what is it? Did you notice anything odd?" His stomach clenched as he was very nervous about the answer.

Mario nodded and nervously fiddled with his fingers. "Alarico and Demetri saw some Araluans in Maria's tavern. It's located in…"

"I know where it is!" Will said hurriedly and Mario's eyes widened. Will didn't usually snub at people. "And? Did they look suspicious? Are you sure they aren't just visitors?"

"We're pretty sure. Alarico heard them talk about something about getting some information out of the people here."

"When was that?"

"Around two hours ago, but-"

Will went a bit pale and hurried to room nr 197. "Thanks", he called out to Mario without turning around. When he arrived he saw Juandres stand there outside the doors talking to General Leandro.

_Dammit! I'm late._

"There you are, Will!" The king called out. "I was wondering if you forgot about me." He gave Will a look that told him that he wasn't happy about that.

"It's very hard to forget about you, my King." Very hard indeed, since it looks like I have to have you on my bloody mind 24/7… "I'm truly sorry, but something came up."

Juandres raised an eyebrow. "Something more important than me?"

"Important information, my King," Will avoided the question and swallowed. "I believe that the rangers are here. But I'm not a hundred percent sure, so I will have to look it up soon."

It went quiet. This was the subject that they had tried to avoid all these days. Suddenly an arrogant smile slowly appeared at Juandres face.

"Finally!" He turned to Leandro. "It took them some time, now didn't it?" The general only nodded briefly.

_Finally? _Yet again Will got baffled over Juandres line of thinking.

"Now", Juandres clapped his hand two times, "we just have to get them here to negotiate and then I can get my money!" He sounded like a child.

"I don't think that they are here to negotiate-"

"Of course they are here to negotiate!" The king spat.

Will stifled a sigh. "Yes, of course, my king."

Juandres eyes narrowed. "Well, aren't you going to get them here?"

"Yes, but first let me take you to," Will looked down at the schedule, "room nr 402."

"What am I going to do there? If you say 'meeting' again I'm going to shoot someone, Will. I am not joking."

Will raised an eyebrow. "My king, this meeting only took 20 minutes."

"I don't care!"

"Actually, you're going to get a new costume for the ball next week. The seamstress is waiting for you."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Juandres eyes lightened up considerably; he was weak for nice clothes and jewelry. The king pushed himself past Will and walked so fast towards the stairs that Will had to jog after him to catch up.

"But before you go and fetch those irritating little vegetables for me, make sure that dinner is ready for me when I get back to my room."

Will almost raised his eyebrows behind Juandres'. "Yes, my king."

"And don't forget dessert this time!"

oOoOo

"Come oooonnn!" Will pleaded. "Please! You owe me!"

Adrian set his gaze in another direction. "I'm busy now. Go away!"

Will looked at him with disbelief and crossed his arms. "Busy doing what?"

Adrian looked around and tried to make up something. "I'm supposed to…meet someone."

"Who?"

"That's none of your business, man. Now, leave me alone!"

"Quit it, Adrian. I know you're lying. Now, come on! I can't go alone."

"Look Will", Adrian looked at him in the eyes. "I am not going to talk to those rangers. Excuse me for not wanting to be turned into a frog."

"Since when do you believe in magic?"

"Since five minutes ago."

"Fine!" Will gave up. "Thanks a lot."

"I'll go with you Will", Daniella threw him a small smile. "Just wait a minute and I'll meet you there in a moment."

Will's eyes widened and he gave his friend a loud kiss on the cheek before he turned towards Adrian. He missed Daniella's slight blush as he arrogantly said:

"She's got bigger balls than you, man. You should be ashamed."

oOoOo

"Wait here outside", Will ordered three of the king's soldiers before he turned to Daniella.

They went inside the tavern and looked around. Everything went suddenly quiet as all activity stopped: the attention of the locals were all at them. Not that strange, considering that the Juandres rarely cared about the inns and taverns in the city.

In some miraculous way, the Auraluans hadn't moved their asses a bit. Well, that was according to Alarico.

Will's and Daniella's faces showed no emotions. It was time to get in the role they held as Juandre's loyal men/women.

"We are looking for a group Araluans. Are they in here?" Daniella asked loudly with strong authority. This was the sharp side of his friend. Daniella may have been short (shorter than Will), but she could get anyone unsecure and scared with her stern gaze whenever she wanted. Hell, when she went mad you never wanted to be the target off her anger. Dani was one of the most frightening women he knew.

No one reacted. It was so quiet that Will thought he could hear crickets in the background.

Daniella tapped her foot on the floor impatiently and she raised her eyebrows. "Well? I demand an answer immediately."

An elderly woman slowly raised her hand and pointed with a shaky finger towards a table in the corner and Daniella nodded shortly in gratitude. She then, with her head held high, set course towards the foreigner and inspected their 'visitors'. Will was just beside her.

Will's eyes first set on a girl. She had long, platinum blonde hair and a heart-haped face. The first thought was that she was really tall, he could see that even though she sat down. And his second thought was that her grey eyes were incredibly captivating. Though he couldn't put his finger on what it was. This girl was the exact opposite to Daniella.

Will inspected further and saw another tall and lean man with light brown hair look up at him. He scowled at them and Will tried not to roll his eyes.

There was another tall man with dark-brown hair and Will saw that this was a man with confidence. This was a man you didn't want to piss off. Another man was sitting there, but his face was covered by a hood, so Will couldn't really see him…but he did note that he was the shortest of them all.

"Are you sent here by the ruler of the kingdom of Aralua?" Daniella spoke in the common language.

"Depends on who's asking", the girl answered.

Daniella threw a look at Will that showed that she already was irritated.

"Please, just answer the question", Will said shortly.

He saw how almost the whole company glanced at the short man and he saw the man's curt nod. Clearly he was the leader of this group. Will almost smirked.

"I'll take that nod as a yes", Will muttered.

Daniella nodded. "We can take the easy way or the hard way, it's your choice. Either way, you are coming with us. Our king would like to…speak with you." The hesitation on her last words did not go unnoticed.

"I guess we have no choice, Halt", said the dark-haired man next to the shorter man with mock in his voice.

The man named Halt shook off his hood and smirked. "I guess we don't." The man named Halt set his eyes on Will, and Will could only stare back a couple of seconds before nervously looking away. The authority that the man named Halt carried with himself was almost uncomfortable.

Will and Daniella switched looks. They both had a bad feeling about this.

oOoOo

This was going easy. Will smirked to himself. They were heading towards the castle, and no problems had occurred yet. No problem_os_ at all_o._

_Huh, I thought that it would be harder than this… _Will scowled. _This went way too easy for my liking. _He carefully eyed the Araluans and concluded that they weren't exactly looking worried or scared. In fact…they looked a bit satisfied with the situation.

Crap.

He met Daniella's gaze and saw that she had noticed it too. Things were not going as they were expecting.

When they reached the great hall Will got startled when Josephine suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his arm and dragged him aside, leaving Dani and the guards alone with the Araluans.

He followed the secretary and then finally they stopped. "What is it?"

"King Juandres wants to…invite…them to dinner in dining room number 3", she said with a frown. Obviously she wasn't too fond with the idea.

"He wants what?" Weirdly enough he wasn't at all that surprised.

"Don't play stupid, Will. You heard me."

"Didn't he just eat?" Will sighed deeply and massaged his temples. "Okay… Let me just talk to him quickly." He walked really fast towards the dining room and pushed the doors open with a great force.

"Aaah, I've been expecting you," Juandres said with a terrible accent in the common tounge and with a fake voice. The table he sat by had so many different dishes and desserts that Will just stopped and stared. Juandres had a very big crown on his head and his clothes were covered with diamonds. Not to mention the huge red cloak he was wearing and how his throne was towering up scarily over the table.

"Will?" Juandres voice turned back to normal and Iberionin, and eyes narrowed when he understood that Will was alone. "Where are the other ones?" He tried to look over Will's shoulder by stretching out his neck.

"They are…they are downstairs. But…" Will was speechless.

"Speak up! I don't have all day." Will knew that Juandres only was excited that he had others to show how great his power was.

"I have a suspicion that the rangers' plan is to come inside the castle, and if I'm right I'm afraid they have succeeded in that part." Will talked incredibly fast. "And I don't think that this dinner would be such a great idea. The best way to handle them would be in a fast and easy way. Better to get this thing over with as fast as possible. What do you say, my King?"

Juandres shot him a bored look and it said; 'are you kidding me?'

"Will you for heaven's sake just stop it already? I've got everything under control, now get them over here!"

"But-"

"Not another word!"

"Bu-"

"Zip it!"

Will sighed in defeat. "Fine, Your Majesty."

He turned around only to be called back a moment later.

"Will!"

"Yes?" Will met the king's gaze.

"How do you think my entry was? Pretty scary, right?"

A question he wasn't prepared to get.

"It was really scary indeed."

Juandres smirked, obviously satisfied. "Just what I thought! I've been practicing in front of the mirror, you know."

"Well, practice makes perfect, doesn't it, Your Majesty?"

Will didn't dare to think of what their guest would think after the meeting.

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><p><strong>AN**

**Review maybe? I'd love to hear your thoughts :P**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**I suck. I really, really, really suck. Trust me, I know that. And I'm soooooo sorry!**

**Anyway, I'm back now! :D And with a new chappie! Hopefully I haven't lost your attention to this story yet. I've got a lovely respond for the previous chapter! I'd like to thank you all. You know who you are ;)**

**Now:**

**Relax, read and hopefully enjoy ;)**

* * *

><p>Will hurried through the labyrinth of hallways. He dared to say that he knew the ways (shortcut or not) better than anyone else, and he quickly found the company of foreigners in room nr 397.<p>

There were two guards outside the doors which let him inside without any further hesitation. To not let the King's right hand go where he wanted could give death sentences, they were sure of. They really didn't want to get on Juandres bad side.

Will didn't have time to greet them with his usual smile; instead he just went straight inside the room. He stopped and his eyes searched for Dani's. He found her standing right next to the door, inspecting their guests with suspicious eyes. Her posture was stiff and her face expressionless. It didn't quite surprise him.

The Araluans looked up at him as they sat around a table. There were guards along the walls who nervously fumbled with their weapons. Will knew that their guests had been searched and discarded of any kind of possible weapon, but that didn't completely calm him down. He was well aware of that you could put a man down with your bare hands.

He straightened himself and gave them a quick bow. The best way to handle this was to be polite, but set. He figured that he didn't want to piss them off. No time for that now.

"My deepest apologies, my dear guests", he greeted and gave them a stiff smile. He was aware of his slight accent, but he couldn't do anything about that now, could he? "Our King: Juandres Alejandro Carlos Korneli Adolfo Sebastiano Sanchez, king and ruler of Iberion and its conquered lands, our leader and protector, is honored to have you in his castle and on his ground. With kindness and enthusiasm, he is happy to inform and invite you to join him on dinner on this beautiful day."

Blah, blah, blah.

The things he said came out of its own without much thought in it. Besides, all he could dwell on was if he had gotten Juandres' names in the right order. That was the order he said the names, right?

"He wants what?" Daniella involuntarily exclaimed with a harsh whisper and turned towards him with a shocked expression.

Will grimaced and gave her a look. She shut her gaping mouth and composed herself before she turned towards the company yet again.

"Excuse me?"

Now, this question came from the lovely, blonde lady that looked rather pissed off. She gave him a questioning look and Will knew that she wondered "why", but he choose to misinterpret it.

"My dear lady, I informed about ten seconds ago that you all are invited with open arms for dinner with our dear King. I'm going to ask you to follow me", he said and gestured them to get up.

They looked funnily at each other before the short man with the hood stood up and reached Will. The other ones followed his example and stood behind him. Will looked at Daniella and she nodded. She was going to watch his back, for sure.

While he walked towards the dining room, Will couldn't stop talking. He wasn't sure of why, but the uneasiness in his stomach wouldn't go away.

"I advise you not to insult His Majesty. The guards will have you under their watch, but I'm sure you already knew that… Anyway, I hope you don't have any hidden weapons on you either", he slightly warned them and looked at them over his shoulder before he set his gaze forwards again. "Our dear Leandro won't be happy about that. And trust me, you don't want to anger him. He's a bloody rude bastard…"

He abruptly stopped and turned around. Halt almost slammed into him, but he stopped himself in the last second. But that didn't prevent George from stepping onto his back.

"Ouch."

Halt gave him a slight annoying look before he amusingly looked at the short, young man.

"Don't tell him I said that!" Will whispered with wide eyes. "I have enough problems as it is." He then gave them a quick smile and turned around, walking with rapid steps again. The company hurried after him with confused looks on their faces.

"I'm also advising you not to talk about cats, flowers, Alpina, Skandians, wives, children and horses. He hates horses! Put that on your mind. Also he despises bees. Sadly, I could not (and still can't) eradicate them, much to his displeasure."

Will was just about to say something else when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He winced and turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Sí?" He still walked backwards. Time was a valuable thing.

"Where is…" the light-brown haired man started to ask but Will quickly cut him off.

"Your dear Princess named Cassandra? And her knight, the mighty Chevalier de Feuille du Chêne?"

"Ehm…"

"That, my…friend, is something you have to ask the King himself." Will turned around with a frown. Friend? Really? Oh, come on Will!

"Now, where were we…?" He scratched his cheek as they walked up some stairs with red carpet covering them. "Oh yeah, don't interrupt him. Don't raise your voice at him and for heaven's sake, don't correct him. Got that? Don't ask questions if not necessarily, and don't you dare answer a question with a question! If he gets all red in his face, then you better shut your mouth. If you see any twitches (doesn't matter if it's on his face or his fingers) you shut your mouth. If he gets an outburst, then you really, really, really should shut your mouth."

Halt mentally raised an eyebrow. Was he really supposed to remember all that? When he quickly glanced at Gilan, he saw that his former apprentice looked as confused as he was amused. Halt nearly shook his head at the young man.

Finally they reached the doors. The guards were just about to open the doors, but Will stopped them and turned around.

He looked each of them in the eyes. "I'm not saying this to be nice. No, I'm saying this because, quite frankly, I do not have time to fuss around you. I have a big list of things I have to do, and I do not, and I hope you noticed the not-word, have the desire nor the will to put another thing on it." He talked fast and clearly, hoping that they would be at least a bit nice to him on that department. "So, what I'm trying to say is: I do not want to face any problems after this meeting! Comprendéis?

"And who are you, again?" Alyss asked. She managed to leave her shock out of her voice.

Will confusedly looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Did I not introduce myself?" He seemed to ask himself and then saw how Daniella discretely shook her head. He then gently bowed his head. "William Torres, the King's right hand and advisor, at your service." He straightened himself and signed the guards to open the doors.

He stepped aside and gently shoved them inside. "Don't forget! You see one twitch and you better keep quiet."

They Araluans were all inside the dining room and just before the doors closed shut they heard Juandres nasal voice: "Aahh, I've been expecting you…"

BAAM!

The doors were closed and the two of them shared looks.

"I have a creepy feeling that this won't go as planned." Daniella raised a hand to her head and started to comb her hair with her fingers.

"Well, it's his plan. I think that feeling is pretty unavoidable." Will muttered before he rushed off to make sure that the security around the Princess hadn't gone lazy.

The Araluans sat in front of the King on the right side of the huge, rectangular table. Halt was sitting directly in front of Juandres, inspecting him with cold and curious eyes.

The King had introduced himself, given them a cheerful, mockingly and arrogant smirk while he asked them to take a seat. They didn't have the opportunity to say anything since Juandres' mouth wouldn't shut up. And now they were sitting there, watching the King stuff food in his mouth while talking about something incoherent with a horrible accent.

"…and then I said: I'll think about it, señor!"

Juandres finished his story with a huge, loud, rumbling laugh. He smacked his palm at the table a couple of times before wiping some nonexistent tears away from under his eyes. His laugh slowly died out when he noticed the blank faces of his guests.

He took a gulp of his red wine and smacked his tongue with a raised eyebrow. "What is it with the angry faces? Are you Araluans always this grumpy?"

Halt just stared at the man. Was this his way of mocking them? He sourly wondered.

"You'll have to excuse us, but sadly we are not in a mood today."

Juandres laughed. "And he talks! I was wondering if I unconsciously spoke the wrong language or something, considering that half of you looks like question marks." With that he gestured towards George and Alyss, who quickly composed themselves again.

"Could we please get to the main subject?" Gilan blurted out the words with annoyance. Clearly he was sick of Juandres playing with them.

Juandres managed to ignore his rudeness an excitedly bounced in his throne. "Sí, sí, por supuesto!" He leaned forwards, resting his chin on his hand. "So, where is it?" He asked with a smile and tried spot something they could be carrying in their hands.

"I think that we're the ones that should be asking you: 'where are they?'" Halt retorted.

Juandres frowned and quickly dropped his "friendly" façade. He eyed the short man closely. "But I", he pointed a finger to himself, "asked you", now he pointed towards him, "first." And then his finger was pointing up to the roof, resembling the number 1.

"Hm, yes. I suppose you did ask first." Halt raised an eyebrow. "But I am really not in a mood for jokes at the moment. So, if you please, fetch us the Princess and the knight and we'll be on our way out of here." Halt knew that that wouldn't happen, but he still wanted to imply that they were there to get what was theirs, and they weren't giving a penny for it.

Juandres scowled and grumbled some curses under his breath. "Who do you think you are? Giving me orders? In my dining room?" He leaned back. "What makes you think that I'll just give you the Princess and let you go without further ado? Hm?"

Halt stifled a sigh and menacingly leaned forwards. "As you already have figured out (I hope), King Duncan is not quite…happy with our situation. So you can imagine how nice of him it was toask us to just retrieve what rightfully belongs to him. Or else there will be a nasty conflict between our two nations that you know you're going to lose. Tell me, how many countries would even consider cooperating with you at the moment?"

Juandres' hand was squeezing the wineglass so hard that his knuckles turned white. His nostrils fluttered, but other than that his face was still blank. He smacked with his tongue against the roof of his mouth and slowly breathed out unhappily.

"What was it you didn't understand?" He slowly voiced out. "All I asked for was for you to bring me my gold." It sounded like he was talking to small children. His hands made movements to emphasize every word, which made the wine in the glass spill out a bit. "All you had to do was to bring me the blasted GOLD!" The last word he shouted out, making it echo through the room. "Was that so hard for you to get in those thick sculls of yours?"

He then leaned forwards and raised a finger. "Uno: I take Princess." He raised another one. "Dos: you come here with my gold." And then he raised the third and last one. "Tres: you get the Princess and ride the hell out of my country! That's how it works! Araluano ESTUPIDO!"

Juandres was all red in his face and he breathed loudly. But Alyss wasn't sure if it was because of anger or the wine.

Juandres sensed that someone was about to say something but he quickly cut him (her?) off by raising his hand. Obviously he had had enough of them. "Don't. Speak." He massaged his temples and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Well, unless you want to tell me that you have the gold, of course. Then you have permission to speak."

No one said anything.

Oh, how he wanted to strangle every one of them. Hey, maybe they had golden teeth? Who knew? Juandres shook off his silly thought and looked up and gestured to a maid to step forwards. "Bring me Will. Inmediatamente!"

"Sí, Your Majesty." Her heels loudly clapped against the floor till they slowly died out.

He leaned back again and closed his eyes. He didn't notice the looks the others were giving each other. And maybe that was for the best. When he eyed his wineglass he couldn't help but to frown. Where the hell had all the wine gone?

Twenty minutes later Will came into the room with rapid steps. The maid that had went to fetch him couldn't keep up with his pace, as she almost had to run after him. The Araluans turned their eyes towards him and Will couldn't help but to furrow his eyebrows towards the company before his attention was on the King.

Hopefully they hadn't screwed things up.

Juandres had his eyes closed and Will noted that his glass was almost empty.

Just great.

He stood just right beside him and suspiciously looked at their guests. Clearly they had not listened to his advices. Ignorant fools.

Will cleared his throat, trying to get the King's attention. "My King?"

Juandres opened an eye and straightened himself. His eyes were now fully opened and he did not look happy. But still he did not say a word. He just stared at Will as if everything suddenly was his fault.

"Is there a problem here?" Will carefully asked.

Juandres leaned his elbow on the armrest and gestured something with his hand. "They are awfully stubborn. And rude too, way to rude considering to where they are." Was his only answer.

Will sighed and turned to the company. "Then I have to strongly advise them – again – to stop being so rude." He gave them all a meaningful look, discretely reminding them of his words earlier. But it was obvious that the Araluans didn't care.

"They tried to order me to get the Princess and the knight to them, so that could just walk out my country!" Juandres exclaimed and gave up a little laugh, as if it was the most stupid thing he'd ever heard of.

"Hm…" Will was not surprised at all. "Did they not know about the conditions?"

"Of course they know about the conditions!" Juandres snapped at him. "They just don't have any gold with them. Clearly they wanted me to just let them go…"

"Excuse me…" Alyss raised her voice a bit. "But we're in this room too. You're meant negotiate with us, not talk about us between yourselves."

Will turned his face towards her and he did not look happy. She held her head high, but inwardly she cringed a bit.

"Well, excuse me, my lady. But if you just had the gold with you, we wouldn't have to try and solve this unneeded dilemma we've just got. So if you don't miraculously have the gold with you, I would strongly advise you to keep quiet." His voice rose at the last word and they could all tell that this situation was slowly giving him grey hair. "But since you haven't given a damn about them earlier, I guess they do not mean a thing now either." Annoyingly he scowled and turned towards the King.

"How would you like to handle this?"

Juandres inspected his nails, fully composed now. Not a single emotion was showing on his face. "Ask Fernando when he's ready." He grinned evilly at them. "That should give my dear friend Duncan a message."

He started to chuckle and clumsily stood up with a tired and heavy sigh before he moved to a small door opening in the right wall. "I'll go to bed. You know what to do."

Suddenly they were all alone with just the guards that were standing next to the walls. Will put his papers on the table and sat down at Juandres chair. He knew that he wasn't supposed to do that, but at the moment he was feeling really tired and…yeah. Simply just tired of everything.

He leaned back at the throne and just gazed at the bundle of papers. He didn't know how long he just sat there and stared, but suddenly someone cleared his throat and Will moved his eyes towards the Araluans. He noticed the weird looks some of them gave him, but he didn't care.

"Who's Fernando?" The tall one in the green cloak asked.

Will just set his eyes at him and stared. "Believe me…it's better if you don't know."

"I doubt that. Sooner or later we'll find out."

Will chuckled humorlessly. "Of course you will find out. That's for sure. Maybe in a week or so."

The man stood up with an annoyed expression on his face. "We've had enough with this nonsense! Where is Cassandra?"

Will raised a finger. "I do not like your demanding tone, my good sir. And there's nothing I personally can do. You're turning towards the wrong person."

The man was going to say something but Will quickly interrupted him.

"And what did I tell you just before you went inside?" Will couldn't help but to glare at them. He had totally forgotten about that the two of them were rangers. "But no! No one wants to listen to Will's advices! Not you, not the King, not the council…" He closed his eyes for a second or two before he opened them again. "I cannot say that it pleases me." He mumbled to himself.

"We better go then." Halt suddenly stood up and so did the rest of them.

Will laughed out of surprise. "What?"

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Until next time."

They all went towards the doors and Will just watched them go with the surprised smile still stuck on his face. He shook it off and gestured towards the guards at the doors. The guards immediately stood in the Araluan's way and prevented them from going out. The short ranger turned around questioningly. Will stepped down from the throne (hopefully Juandres wouldn't notice) and took his papers. He then walked towards them and smiled a warm smile.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we can't let you go."

"Well, we're sorry to disappoint you, because we ain't staying", the blonde retorted.

"Hm, yes you are."

"Uhm, no we're not."

"Yes. You. Are."

"No. We're. Not."

"Ye…" Will stopped himself and frowned. Since when did he start acting like a child? He noticed the looks he was received and awkwardly cleared his throat. Great. "I'm to take you to your new…rooms."

Will carefully chose his words, and Halt noticed it. That didn't bode well for them.

"You can't do this!" Alyss screeched and fought against the guards.

"Uhm", Will looked around and inspected his surroundings and then the guards. "Looks like I can."

"Oh, wait until I get out! I'll wipe that stupid grin off of your face when you at least expect it!"

Will made a face. "Your voice is really piercing, you know that?" And then he covered his ears just for the theatrical effect.

"I hope it ruins your eardrums, asshole!"

"Continue like that and I'm afraid it will", he muttered to himself.

The Araluan company was now set in separately cells and Will braced himself when (unsurprisingly) everyone eyed him angrily. Being bored, he sighed and began to speak.

"You really shouldn't have made Juandres upset. This is all on you."

"And you really shouldn't have kidnapped our crown Princess!"

Will shrugged casually, when he just wanted to cry like a baby.

You don't think I know that? What the hell do you think I worried about so much? And still the worst is to come…

"Don't blame this on me. Not my plan."

"Whoever planned this plan wasn't really thinking through it." Will could hear a hint of mockery in her voice. "How do you plan on getting out of this one?"

Will grumbled something under his breath. Believe me when I say that I haven't got a clue.

"So what now?" Alyss fiercely asked. Her hands were gripping the bars and her eyes bore holes into him.

"Now, we wait for Fernando."

"And that is…?"

For the first time Will actually showed some pity towards them. He hesitated, but then decided to tell them anyway...kind of. "He's…a man…employed by the King."

"You know, shorty, I'm pretty sure that you live just to annoy people. Admit it."

Will pretended to be hurt and put a hand on his chest. "Wow. You really know how to make a man feel unappreciated."

"Enough!" Halt growled and gave Alyss a look before he turned his gaze at Will. "And what's that man's profession?"

Will dropped the act and straightened himself. "He has many professions. He likes horses, so you can often see him raise and train them. He also likes to play instruments, sometimes I see him on the street. He also likes to draw pictures of, let's say buildings of sorts which he puts into construction… Also he's an artist with his sword. A very good artist, I must say. First time I met I was hal..."

"You're avoiding the question", Halt said amusedly. But mostly he was just annoyed. And a bit worried maybe.

"I am? Well…" Will scratched his head. "He's also the King's execution planner."

Everyone went quiet after that. No one made to speak up or make a sound.

"I told you not to piss him off", Will said apologetically and kind of felt the need to defend himself. Not that he knew why… "I have to go. I bet I'll have to visit you soon", he said sourly and walked away.

What a day.

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><p><strong>AN**

**Review, if you want =P I'd love to hear your thoughts**

**Way too OOC-ish? I'm trying to tone it down a bit. Just can't help myself to exaggerate ;)**

**/JoJo**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**Hello! Did ya miss me? Maybe, maybe not. Sorry for the slow update, but I refuse to update a chapter with less than 3000 words in it, and it seems that I'm always busy! :( **

**_Thank you_ for those wonderful reviews you gave me for the last chapter! I really love and appreciate them all :) **

**So here's a new chapter for you. Relax, read and hopefully enjoy! **

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><p>The mood in the cells was, unsurprisingly, heavy and dreary. Well, it could have been worse.<p>

Alyss sat cross legged on the floor with her back against the wall. Her knees were up against her chest with her hands were locked around them. Her eyes were locked on a nervous Gilan who was walking around the cell while murmuring to himself.

Clearly, he was nervous and worried. George had long ago stopped paying attention to him and was now sleepily lying down. Halt was glaring at his former apprentice as he had given up at trying to calm him down. Gilan was rigid and stressed.

Alyss just sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. This day was so exhausting and still all she could think of was her behavior. To say that she was surprised was an understatement. Normally she would speak up calmly and professionally, not shout and insult people like that. She couldn't quite figure out why she acted out like that, but she guessed it had something to do with the King. And of course the young man named William Torres.

Oh, there was something with his face expression that she just wanted to slap off. But what was it? Arrogance? Overly confidence? Nonchalance? Alyss sighed heavily again and rested her head back on the wall.

Luckily it wasn't cold in there, but actually comfortably mild. She had to admit that Iberion's climate had its perks. It was really late in the evening and the only thing that was lightening up the area was two torches by the door. The guards were in a room outside theirs and they could hear their shouting.

"Will you please stop that?" Halt growled annoyingly. "Your murmuring is not helping."

"What am I supposed to do, Halt? Just stand here and wait for _Fernando_?"

Halt shook his head lightly and cocked it. "I'm telling you that we won't get executed. I'll get us out of here. Isn't that enough?"

"Your word isn't that comforting right now, you know. Since there's not much we can do about our situation!"

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Gilan, please. Sit down and get some rest. We'll be out of here soon enough."

Gilan just shot him a look and ignored his suggestion. It continued like that for another an hour or so, with Gilan moving around, until they heard a voice outside the doors and someone came stumbling in.

It was William. He stumbled on his feet and in the next second he was on his stomach with papers flying everywhere.

"_Maldita sea_!" he burst out before a lot of Iberion curses flowed from his mouth. He got up and started picking the papers up. "_Mierda, mierda, mierda! Justo lo que necesitab..."_

Halt raised an eyebrow at Gilan and hid a smirk. His eyes were in the next second at William, who was running around like a chicken. His gaze caught something on the floor right next to him and he picked up a piece of paper that had reached his foot. He inspected it, but the unfortunately the words didn't make any sense to him.

William breathed fast and ran all around the area. Halt noticed that he had dark rings under his eyes and that his eyes were all huge and red from lack of sleep. His hair was unruly, but Halt suspected that it always was like that. It was obvious that this man had too much work to do, which wasn't that weird considering what Halt had been observing during the day.

_"...diez...dieciocho...veintisiete...treinta y dos_..." William stopped counting and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. He looked around for something and Halt's eyes lightened up when an idea came up. This was their opportunity.

"_Mierda_!" William then turned to the guards and rambled up some rushed words and whoop, the men were gone. Halt mentally nodded to himself. This man had more authority than one would think.

He then cleared his throat and William's attention quickly turned to him. Halt held up the paper and William brightened up.

"Oh, that was a relieve", he said with a sigh and walked towards Halt's cell. "Thought I had lost it. His Majesty wouldn't have been pleased..."

Halt neared the bars and reached the ark to him with his left hand, and just as William's hand grabbed it Halt quickly acted. His right hand took a strong grip of the young man's collar and rapidly pulled him towards the bars. William's head smacked into the bars with a loud "SMACK" once, but Halt knew that wasn't enough to put a man unconscious, so he repeated the action. Will's eyes rolled back and he was unconscious even before his body met the floor.  
>It was quiet for a while before Gilan whistled.<p>

"Wow, Halt. That will hurt as hell when he wakes up."

"I guess we'll have to leave a 'I'm sorry'-note, then." Halt sarcastically replied before he bend down to tap at the unconscious man's pockets through the bars. While he did it he talked with a whisper. "Our visit here in the castle has paid off. We have the information we need to get them out of here. Just as we had hoped for."

When the company had decided to voluntarily get lead into the castle they knew that they couldn't just talk their way out of the situation. But what they did know was that the information they needed was in the castle...so they simply decided to get it. And Halt thought that they finally had what they needed to get into some real action.

He got the keys and unlocked his cell. When he was out he gave the keys to Gilan, who proceeded to unlock his cell and the other's. Halt took William under his armpits and dragged him inside the cell. Halt actually had the decency to feel a little sorry for him...for a second or two.

He then got the keys from Gilan and locked the cell that William was in. Alyss smirked at the lump form and crossed her arms. Oh, how much she wanted to be there to see his face when he woke up.

"And what's that?" George eventually asked.

"We've got time for questions later, but now we have to hurry." Halt walked to the door and peered outside. He spotted a group of guards playing some sort of card game around a table. They were all loud and it was obvious that they all were fighting about something. Probably money. The bad news was that they were in the way for the door that led upstairs from the underground.

Halt went back to his friends with a serious expression. "There's a group of guards we need to get rid off."

"What do you mean by that?" Alyss frowned a bit nervously. Were they going to kill them?

"It means that we have to do what's necessary." Halt had understood what she was thinking off.

"We don't have any weapons", Gilan pointed out.

Halt stifled a sigh. The thought of his weapons being stuck somewhere in the castle made him uneasy. "We'll take what we can get from these guards."

Gilan nodded and looked down at his feet, thinking. "Do you think there's more guards than them near the cells?"

"I'm not sure, but I doubt it. We have to be quick. We take down these Iberions, and then we get out of here as if a beast was after us."

"So, we'll just sneak out of here, trust they'll be paralyzed by surprise and then attack them?" Gilan asked.

"They're going to make an awful lot of noise." George grimaced and scratched his cheek. He was not a fighter, and they all knew that. He'd probably just cause more problems than good if he was in the way.

Alyss, on the other hand, had taken lectures in fencing, and she dared to say that she was rather good at it and could defend herself decently. But the problem here was that she didn't have a sword, and she was not physically strong enough to fight a muscular man.

Halt realized that and told Alyss and George to try and stay safe, and have it as a main task to not let anyone outside the room.

_Yeah, that'll be easy...no problem._

* * *

><p>Will scowled and growled. His hand slowly reached up to his head and he winced at the pain. He had a terrible headache and the light he saw behind his eyelids was not helping. He heard muffled voices beside him, but he didn't quite comprehend any words.<p>

_Ugh... Stupid headache._

Inwardly he sighed and kept his eyes shut. Whatever that just had happened to him, it felt as if it was better not to know.

But wait... What _did_ happen? Will recalled going towards cells to make sure that the prisoners hadn't managed to escape or cause any trouble. Had he fallen on the stairs and hit his head, maybe? It wouldn't be the first time.

"Will? Can you hear me? Will?"

Will squeezed his eyelids tighter before he slowly opened them. Luckily there wasn't that much light, but still spots were mostly covering his vision. It took a couple of seconds for them to go away and he could now see Daniella stand beside him with a worried expression.

Will groaned and tried to sit up. Someone on his other side helped him and Will saw that it was Adrian.

"Are you alright, Will?" He asked while inspecting the nasty mark on Will's forehead and eye. It was all red and blue. A bit tad purple and maybe some green...

"..oouggh..." Will's tongue was dry as he cleared his throat. Suddenly he noticed the bars and wrinkled his eyebrows. He then looked around him and realized that he was in a cell. "Huh?"

His friends saw his confused expression and sighed.

"Oh Will." Daniella carefully put a bag of ice on his forehead and Will winced. "How do you feel?"

"Well", Will cleared his throat again, "I've certainly felt better. It feels like a horse just tap-danced on my head. Jeeze." He carefully touched his forehead again. "What happened? What on earth am I doing in _here_?"

Adrian gave him a tap on the shoulder and laughed nervously. "Well, here's where we found you, man. You tell us."

Will gave him a bewildered look. "Are you telling me that I just locked myself up in here? Please Adrian. Tell me, who am I gonna thank for this lovely bruise I've received?"

No one answered and Will attempted to stand up. Unfortunately he immediately felt dizzy and would have collapsed if it weren't for Adrian. His friend steadied and supported him.

"Wow", his friend chuckled. "Someone's had a drink or two. You should slow down with those drinks you've just discovered."

"Adrian!" Daniella scolded. "Shut up."

Will took the ice bag from Daniella and inspected it before he frowned. He then felt at his eye and made a grimace. There was definitely an ugly bruise there. Questions formed in his head.

"Why is my head bruised? Why am I in a cell? Why..." Will abruptly stopped himself and looked around again. His eyes slowly widened when he came to think of something. "Daniella? Where are the Araluans?" He slowly asked and met her eyes.

Daniella squirmed and avoided him. "We need to get you to the healer. I'm think you're fine, but you can never be sure."

Will's breathing stopped and everything went quiet. He suddenly quickly tapped his pockets and his suspicions were right. The keys were missing. Missing! Just like the foreigners.

"They escaped? I...I...HOW?"

This was bad. Really, really,_ really bad_. Horrific! Terrible! Awful! _Horrendous!_

Will took deep breaths and walked away from Daniella and Adrian. He got out of the cell before he abruptly stopped. Oh no... What would he tell Juandres? Will immediately forgot about the pain and bit his nails. Crap.

Things just got worse.

"Well", Adrian made a humming noise, as if he were thinking. "By the looks of your bruise I would say that the older man somehow got a hold of you and smacked you unconscious against the bars. Then I guess he got your keys and locked you up instead."

Will slowly processed the information with a painful look on his face. "But what about the guards?"

He once again turned towards his friends and his eyes brightened up again before he started laughing. And he didn't stop in a while. Oh, how could he have fallen for that? His stomach started to hurt because of the laughter and he shook his head, making the headache worse. Not that he cared at the moment. "Of course they didn't escape! The guards had to stop them somewhere!" He jokingly held his finger up against them as to scold a child. "It's not nice to trick someone like that. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

With the number of guards they had in the castle it was nearly impossible for the Araluans to get away.

Will's smile slowly faded away when he saw the looks his friends gave each other. Dani reached for her friend and took a hold of his arm while looking up at him in the eyes.

"Four guards are dead and about 15 are hurt. We haven't seen them anywhere in the castle and it's more likely that they are out there in the town somewhere."

Will just glared at her before sighing and closing his eyes. It took awhile, but as soon as he heard the familiar booming voice from the outside he opened his eyes.

"Dammit!" He burst out. "What time is it?"

"About 3 in the morning."

"Which means Juandres is grumpy. Does he know?" The shouting increased and Will shook his head. "Stupid question." He turned around to walk up to the King, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't need meet him now. Just go and rest a bit and then we'll..."

Will interrupted her with a hand gesture and kept on walking. He bend down to pick up his bundle of papers before he went up the stairs. How was he going to explain that he was stupid enough to near a prisoner?

He ignored the gazes the maids and guards and other men gave him and his bruise (which he didn't dare to think about. Hopefully it wasn't as big as it felt). He saw the King in his pink nightgown and purple slippers, standing and arguing with the head leader of the guards.

"There you are Will, now where the..." Juandres stopped in the middle of his sentence and scowled while inspecting the young man closely. "What the hell happened to you? You look like shit."

Will nervously laughed and nodded as if to agree. "Yeah, I guess you can phrase it like that."

"I don't like it. Go fix yourself afterwards."

Will just glared at Juandres, but shook his head and nervously shuffled with his papers. "What has my King heard?"

"What have I _heard_? What have _I_ heard?" Juandres eyes darkened and his nostrils flared. "_All_ I wanted was a nice sleep! I just ate the most _driest_ chocolate cake ever (remind me to fire the baker) and you know how my stomach can't handle that. It was _exhausting_ to eat the whole shit-cake up. But NO! I had to be waken up to some horrible noise which just _wouldn't stop!_ And then I had to go _all the way_ down here on those_ stupid_ steps that just wouldn't end! Only to hear that our dear _friends_", he spat out the last word, "has knocked _you_ unconscious and then taken the keys that _you_ had on you, only to lock _you_ up!"

Juandres was out of breath and he wiped of some sweat from his forehead with a small napkin.

"Then I hear that those shit-heads managed to get past_ all_ the guards, and even managed to kill some of them!"

His eyes were dangerously glaring at Will, which made Will feel even smaller than actually was. He could see how the whole room froze and stared at them. Juandres' voice was hard to ignore. Especially when he was angry. Will gulped and the headache was worse than ever.

"How the hell did this happen? Please explain that to me, Will. I'm _dying_ to hear."

* * *

><p>The company managed to get some rooms in an old inn in the outskirts of the town. Luckily, no one recognized them. The hostess was an old, mean lady who didn't pay much attention to them, which suited them well.<p>

Halt had gathered his friends in his room, but didn't say anything for a while. Everyone just stared at him and waited for him to start. Exhaustion was big in each and one of them, as their escape hadn't exactly been easy. Besides, just hours ago most of them thought they were waiting for their execution.

"Masquerade party." He suddenly whispered with a glint in his eye.

"What?" George asked with a raised eyebrow, but Gilan understood and smirked.

"When?"

"Next week." Halt scratched his beard. "Until then we can get ourselves prepared and get some useful weapons."

Alyss bit her lip and slowly nodded. Okay. That could work. They could easily hide in the crowd and pretend to belong with them. "Juandres' men will be after us."

"That's why we need to stay low."

A smile slowly spread on Alyss face. She_ loved_ masquerades!

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**Review...maybe? :) **

**Btw, my Spanish is not the best. I haven't studied Spanish in years! Hopefully my memory didn't fail me. **

**/JoJo**


	6. Chapter 5

...**Hello? Remember me? **

***awkward silence***

**I'm not sure if you're still out there, since I haven't updated in a while :( All I have to say is that these last two years have been crazy. In all ways that you can imagine, and I haven't had time to sit down and concentrate on producing something for this story. This summer thankfully gave me some time to breathe and write. **

**Maybe you'll be happy that this is the longest chapter yet? About 5700 words I believe. **

**Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm really glad you all like it (or at least _liked_ it at some point...) **

**_THIS HAPPENED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER:_**

**_- Halt and Co. got thrown in the cells, getting ready to face execution._**

**_- Halt managed to put Will unconcious, take his keys, lock him up instead and escape (amagaaad...)_**

**_- Juandres got pissed off that Will "let them escape". _**

**_- Halt and Co. are preparing themselves to attend to Juandres masquerade party, in order to free princess Cassandra and Horace. _**

**Hope this helps you guys to remember, if not you can quickly re-read that chapter ;) **

**Well, read, enjoy and tell me what you think?**

* * *

><p><em>Knock-knock-knock. <em>

Will didn't know what to say.

All he could do, as he inspected his face in the mirror, was to stare. Carefully he brought his hand up to his black eye and to the awful mark that painfully reminded him of how his head had smashed into the bar. He winced and scowled at the pain.

It certainly wasn't a beautiful sight.

_Knock-knock-knock. _

It hurt really bad but he barely noticed the pain; the anger and frustration had simply overpowered the soreness radiating from his forehead. The scowl on his face hadn't disappeared in three days, not since the day he was being knocked uncouncious. Will was surprised to have had discovered a new thing about himself, and that was that he hated the Araluans wholeheartidly.

_Knock-knock-knock. _

Okay. Maybe not exactly _hate_ them. But why the fuck did they have to make his job so much more difficult than it already was? Giving him an awful headache too in the process. Didn't they know that one simply did not want to piss the king of Iberion off? They weren't exactly making his life easy for him.

_Knock-knock-knock. _

Will couldn't wait until he caught those foreigners. He wasn't such a big fan of the death sentence, a punishment that Juandres was quite fond of, but at the moment he could only feel satisfaction knowing that the Araluans would be brought to the rope that would give their long fall a short stop.

Will brought a gentle hand once again to his face and winced. Stupid rangers.

_Knock-knock-knock. _

Okay. Maybe that wasn't the whole reason as to why he was so determined to catch them. Juandres had also given him a big scolding and ended it all with giving him another order, which ended with an _"or else...!"_ Will was partly glad that His Majesty hadn't finished the sentence, but the floating ending gave his fantasy a wide span of possible scenarios.

_Knock-knock-knock. _

Will tiredly sighed. Who was he kidding? Of course didn't want to meet the Araluans again. Just look what happend the last time! Will brought a hand yet again to his head and hissed. The pain was making him mutter inappropriate words under his breath. The anger flared up once again and he cursed even louder.

_Knock-knock-knock. _

"_What_?!" Will roared at the door. Couldn't people just _leave him alone_? He took rapid steps towards the door and opened it with force.

The maid standing outside winced and nervously fingered at her wedding ring. Her eyes widened slightly at the short angry man in front of her, but she gulped and straightened up. "I-I'm sorry, sir. But His Majesty has sent me for you. He wants you to meet him immediately."

She stood there and anxiously waited for his answer, licking her lips nervously when she saw the blank glaze in Master William's eyes. "Sir?" The man blinked and closed the door in her face. Confusingly, she just stood there and wondered what she would do next. Knock again or face the King? Neither sounded too appealing.

Suddenly the door opened up again and Will walked past her with a boundle of papers in his hands once again. He strode with a steady pace and didn't seem to bother watching where he was going, nor that he had left the maid by herself without uttering a word to her.

Will couldn't see straight. He was in pain, he was tired and mostly he frustrated from his lack of luck. But there was nothing to do about it at the moment, duty called. Or rather; a man called. A fat man. An annoying man. A scary man. A man that had his fat ass on a thr-

"Hey, Will!"

He continued his walking.

"Will?"

He felt someone match his tempo beside him. "Will! Hey, what's going on?"

Will looked sideways and saw Christian raising his eyebrows questioningly at him. "What now, Christian? Did the Araluans retreave the Princess? Perhaps they found a way to get to her while we were asleep?! Is there _someone else _I need to interrogate?" He snapped.

"...wow. Woke up on the wrong side again?"

Will gave him a look that made Christian raise his eyebrows even further. "Because, to be honest, you look a bit..." He trailed off.

Will stopped walking and turned towards his friend with an expectant glare, daring him to continue his sentence. "I look a bit what?"

Chrisitan looked at his short friend with a bit concern. "I... Where are you going?"

"Where do you _think?" _Will sighed heavily and scrathed his head, but winced yet again at the pain. "Was there something you wanted? I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Christian scowled and crossed his arms. Very well, if Will was going to be that way. "I was going to ask you how the searching was going?"

_Stupid searching... _

"Not well", Will said through clenched teeth. "As a matter of fact, I'll have to acompany my men since they don't seem to be able to do a single thing right. I'll have to ask Josephine to give my paperwork to the other assistents. I'm not the only one, dammit."

"Huh. So you're going out on some field work?" Christian hid his small smile. "Well, that's about time. You could use some time outside in the fresh air and the sun. Who knows how long you've been tied to that desk lately."

"Under other circumstances I would have agreed with you. Unfortunately-"

"WILL, what are you waiting for? You think you have time to chat with your friends at the moment?"

Will winced inwarldy and slowly turned his head towards the red-haired annoyed woman. "Josephine!" He forced out a smile. "Just the pretty woman I was looking for! How about we have-"

"The only thing you're going to do right now", the secretary interrupted, "is take your damn ass down to Juandres' office. _Now_!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He mocked her by making a salute. This only served him an irritated gaze.

"Good luck, pal." Chrisitian held back a laughter and walked away. He could feel his friend's eyes bore into his back and shook his head. Will really needed to relax.

**oOoOo**

Will came in just in time to see Juandres grab a man's head by the hair and smash it on the expensive table in front of him. Once...twice...thrice... Bang, bang, bang! The wine bottle that had stood upon the table tripped over, but Juandres barely noticed it. Luckily he had already emptied the bottle. Or well...depending on what perspective of the word "luck" you chose to look at.

Juandres let the man go, which made the poor fella fall down on the floor whimpering. Slowly the beaten man crawled away from the table and the angry king, and then finally sobbingly caressed his head.

"Where are you going, lad?" Juandres roared and stood up. The fat stomach that had been hidden behind the table was in clear view now, only making Juandres look even bigger and more terrifying. The man stopped his crawling and watched fearfully at the king.

"You little slime ball. You think you can run away from _me_? Come back here, you coward, and let's see if you dare to speak up to me like that again! Can't handle some pain? Ha! You Aslavians..."

"P-p-please!"

"Shut up." Juandres muttered and tiredly massaged his temples before nodding to a guard to move away the trembling man. "Take him away from my sight. The cell is an appropriate place, I believe."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Suddenly the man was dragged out of there, but Will sensed that the man voluntarily wanted to leave the room as fast as possible. Will scowled at the scene. Great. Another man who didn't know how to _avoid _pissing Juandres off. The ignorance of the men towards Juandres was _truly_ remarkable.

"Will! About time you got here, boy", Juandres said between the gasps of breath. He sat down at his chair and wiped the beads of sweat from forehead. Will guessed that this was the first "workout" he'd had in weeks.

"What's going on, my king?"

Juandres shook his head with a small smirk at the left corner of his mouth. "Oh, no no _no, _my dear , I want to hear if _you've caught them_." The dangerous glimmer was back in his eyes and a heavy silence settled between them.

Will almost gulped. Almost. "Not yet, my king."

"Hm."

That was it. That was all the king said, and that small sound said more than a thousand words ever could. Just a simple "hm". Will was ashamed of how that small sound had such a big impact on him.

"But I'm working on it, Your Majesty. I have men posted all around the town and I'm planning on going out myself tonight to help. I'm afraid that I haven't been able to give them the leadership they need and deserve."

Juandres made a strange sounding noise through his nose."What in the- Haven't you forgotten something, maybe?"

Will frowned. Oh no...had he forgotten something? That was strange. He tried to remember, but his mind refused to give him answers and he didn't have the guts to browse through hid calendar in front of Juandres. "No...?"

"Is that an answer or a question?"

"An answer?"

Juandres glared at him.

"An answer."

"What happened to your memory, William?" Disappointment was evident in the king's voice. "Don't you use that stupid notebook of yours? What is it that we're all waiting and looking forward to?" The king threw his hands out and raised his eyebrows. "I'll give you one clue: it's on this saturday."

Saturday, saturday...saturday? A frown set on Will's face.

"Are you refering to the masquerade party, my king?"

"Bingo! Finally. Took you some time to make that connection, didn't it?"

"You're serious about still throwing that party?" These news clearly took Will off guard.

"You see me laughing?" Juandres face was everything but happy.

"I'll take that as a yes", Will muttered. "Bu-"

"Before you ask your boring and _highly predictible _question, the answer is 'no, I'm not going to cancel it!'. So, you'll have to wait three days until you can focus on _leading_, I'm afraid."

"Three days?"

"Yes. Today's wednesday. Now you do the counting yourself if you don't believe me." Juandres noticed the surprised look on Will's face and raised an eyebrow. "What, you thought that I was going to let you risk your life before making sure the event is happenig without any complications?"

Juandres looked at him like he was crazy and snorted. "I've planned my attire and mask for weeks! It's not fair if no one gets to see my briliance and elegance, not right for the people _at all_. You'll have time to risk your life and perhaps die _afterwards_, I say. I would _hate _to have to cancel it all off, as it is my duty as a monarch to show the people that there is a fashionable man leading their country towards great times. Make sure that doesn't happen!" He waved at Will's notebook. "Write that down so you won't forget it."

Some seconds passed and Juandres still glared at his hand. "Well, do it!"

Will quickly scrambled down a few sentences and ignored the worried voice in the back of his head.

**OoOoO**

**Three days later**

"You've got the plan?" Halt muttered under his breath to his friends.

Alyss was standing right beside him with a big, red dress and a glittering silver mask covering her eyes. Her blood red lips shot him a smile and she nodded as she tried to fight back the nervousness. Or was it excitement? She couldn't tell. "Yes."

Gilan was standing on Halt's left side, with a modern black cape over a white button-up shirt. His face was also covered with a mask, but his was black. As was Halt's. They were all facing the gate to the white and popmous castle with a fake invitation in their hands. A fake invitation that was graciously made by Halt himself. Gilan had smoothly stolen one from a boney gentleman, and it took Halt only half an hour to put his talents at use.

"And you, Gilan?"

"Yes, of course. I'll use my wonderful charm, avoid the guards, get the keys from our short friend Torres and discreetely get down in the cellar."

"You remember where it is located on the map?"

"Yes."

"Alyss?"

"Yes", she nodded. "Now let's do this."

She put her arm on Halt's and he led her to the guard. Since they didn't know the language fluently they trusted Alyss to have learned some phrases from George. When they met the guard she gave him their invitaions, threw him a pretty smile and looked him in the eyes with ease, as the many years of training had made her an excellent actress.

The guard looked at her and smiled back. His posture went a bit more relaxed and his smile developed to a confident smirk as his gaze travelled down her form. His eyes went to the invitation and then back to hers, which made the courier to give him one of her finest smiles. The guard was just about to give it back to them and let them in when he frowned and looked down at the invitations again. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on it...

Halt then cleared his throat as to say: 'come on buddy, we ain't got all day.' Halt convincingly made the impression of an important upper class-man by raising his eyebrow. Just as he suspected the guard got a bit nervous and nodded to them to get inside.

"_Gracias, señor", _Alyss said with a smile that immediately disappeard when they were out of the guard's sight.

As they entered the Great Hall she let out a big breath. The enormous Hall was increadibly huge and very, very...majestic. There was food everywhere, servants carrying champange, crystal lightenings, music, people dancing and laughing... Decorations were lightening the place up.

"Wow", Gilan said with a small laugh. "The king surely knows how to throw a masqerade party."

"Where is he?" Halt asked with a whisper, ignoring his former apprentice's praise.

Alyss looked around and then finally spotted His Majesty sitting by a table on a raised platform, laughing out loud with a glass of red wine in his hand. She inspected his company and narrowed her eyes. "He's sitting over there, but I cannot see Torres anywhere."

"Dammit. We need to locate him before we proceed." Halt said and let go of her arm. "We must split up. We'll meet each other at the end of the stairs in twenty minutes, if nothing get's in our way."

They all nodded and went in different directions, trying to spot their little "friend". There was no question about that he was the one that held the responsibility to search them down, and to stop them from invading the party. They had successfully managed to avoid Torres' tries to catch them in the big capital, but this was a whole different scen. Halt was actually surprised that it was so easy to get in, but he was even more surprised that Juandres still decided to have the party in the first place. The thought that maybe it was a trap, and that they were expected, glinted in his mind. That, or the king had been dropped a couple of times as a baby.

Alyss held herself in the shadows, but her smile never faltered. She made her best to look like she belonged there, in the midst of rich and arrogant people. She may have attended king Duncan's banquettes, but this was somehow different. The fashion in clothes, hair, acting... As much as she wanted to observe her surroundings she had something else on her mind. Or rather, some_one_.

She managed to avoid bumping into people, but unfortunately managed to upset alot of women by stepping on their dresses. She quickly flashed them her smile and walked away before they began to yell at her. Just as Alyss was escaping a situation like that a man walked into her side, making her stumble backwards and failing to find her foothold in her stupid high-heels.

With gritted teeth she prepared herself for the awkward fall, but a pair of strong arms found themselves under her armpits; making the expected fall to never come. Alyss sighed with relief. She put on a grateful smile on her lips as the man that had caught her helped her steady herself.

But just as she turned around her smile began to freeze on her face. In front of her stood a short man with a gentle smile and questioning brown eyes. Half of his face was still pretty beaten up, and she tried not to smirk at it. He wore no mask, but he had a nice suit... And there were still papers in his hands. She started to wonder if they ever left his side. The side of William Torres, the man that she was searching for.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

Where the hell was Gilan? Alyss forced herself to relax and act normally.

"Thank you, Sir", she said in the Common tongue (Araluan) with a pretended gallican accent, since her Iberonin was close to non-existent.

His smile went even broader and he bowed his head slightly. "It's easy to fall in this crowd, mylady", he said with his own accent. Then a frown set on his face.

Alyss tried not to look insecure. Was the mask covering enough? Had he seen through the accent? Did he recognize her voice? Was she too stiff? She tried to act more casual and took a deep breath. She observed that with her heels she towered even more over the Iberionan. If Will minded, he did not let it show.

"I hear that you're from Gallica", he said with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that we had any foreign guests."

Alyss laughed to buy some time to form an answer. How familiar could this man even be with the guest list? He couldn't possibly know every name of the visitors? "I'm a dear friend of a guard here, and clearly he was allowed to bring a guest of his own." She gestured to herself in a playful manner.

William scowled and shot her a small smile. "Oh really? And which guard would that be?"

Gulp. Jeez, did he know every name of the guards too? "Alejandro", she slowly pronounced a name that she had heard in the taverns.

William slowly nodded and made an "aha" noise. "You're a friend of Alejandro Ramirez? I've always liked that man; easy to work with."

Alyss tried not to sigh out of relief. "Well, I've always respected him for his work and contribution for this kingdom." Suddenly, as if on an impulse, she raised her head and caught Halt's eyes. He nodded and gestured towards a door that probably led to an empty room. She discreetely nodded and turned her attention towards William.

He nodded at her and took a few steps backwards, ready to move on. "It was nice to meet you, mylady, but duty calls-"

"Oh, so you work here?" Alyss interrupted and smiled warmingly, desperately trying to keep his attention. "That's interesting. Exactly what is it that you do?" Genuin curiousity sipped into her voice.

William smirked. "I'm not going to bore such a lovely lady as yourself with uninteresting subjects. If you excuse me, I have to-"

"No, please", Alyss quickly interrupted him. "You have to let me repay you somehow. After all, you did save my life", she joked and winked.

"It's nothing, really", William quickly gave her a playful smile that (Alyss almost couldn't believe it) charmed her. Was this really the same man that locked her and her friends up? The same arrogant and nonchalant man that angered her immensely?

_Yes he is. He's still the same man who helped the king of Iberion to put a ransom on the princess of Aralua._

William was about to say something else when something stopped him. His eyes were stuck slightly to the left of Alyss and she turned her head...only to see Gilan moving in the shadows again and disappear from her eyesight. She worriedly gazed at William.

_Distract him_.

"Are you-"

"I am really sorry, and it pains me to leave a madam as yourself, but I really have to go", William rushingly said. A scowl had appeared on his face and lines out of worry were put on his forehead. It didn't suit him.

Suddenly he had rushed off so fast that Alyss almost lost him out of her sight. She backed and approached Halt. Halt seemed comfortable enough to have a relaxed posture. Alyss frowned at first, but quickly put the pieces together.

"Gilan got in his eyesight on purpose, didn't he?"

Halt didn't answer, but he needn't to do that for the shadow of a smirk already confirmed her statement.

Will quickly elbowed, ducked and wriggled through the mass of people. He could have sworn that he saw one of the Green Ones; the tall one. Will couldn't explain why he was so sure, but the feeling he had in his stomach told him that the man indeed was the Araluan.

He stopped moving; he had reached the location where he last saw the lean one. Where had he disappeared to? William quickly observed his surroundings. Pretty girls, well-upholstered women, snobbish old men, childeren running around... Where the hell was he?

"Will?"

Will snapped his head towards the voice and relaxed a bit when he noticed the short woman in a flattering green dress and a black glittering mask covering the upper half of her face.

"What is it?" She asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"I saw one of them here, Dani", he whispered as he continued searching around with his eyes.

"Here?"

"Yes."

Daniella stood by him with a glass of champange in her hand and casually looked around. "Clothing?"

"White shirt, black cape, black mask. It was the tall one."

"Well...that was helpful", she muttered under her breath. Will understood why, nearly everyone were clothed that way.

"Stupid guards", Will muttered and Dani raised her eyebrows. "I told them to look out for them. One of them should have tapped my shoulder with some news by now, don't you think?"

Daniella snorted, but said nothing.

But then she noticed someting in the corner of her eye. A man quickly disappeared into a closed off hall. Daniella grabbed William's arm and gestured towards the spot. Will frowned.

"Of course. They are searching for the cellar", Will muttered and quickly followed with Daniella shortly behind him.

They slipped through the small barricade and continued with rapid steps down the hall. The music and the sound of people talking slowly faded away until it became only an obscure noise. Daniella's heels clipped so loudly that she kicked them off before continuing barefoot in silence next to her dear friend.

The hall was dark and was lightened up by torches that casted shadows on the walls and made it harder for Will to see clearly. He strained his eyes and ears as he sneaked through. Daniella took her mask off and left it on a chair they walked past; her eyes just as searching as his.

Suddenly Will heard something behind them and quickly turned around. The imposter was leaning against the wall in a cool manner which made Will frown. The Araluan wasn't supposed to feel comfortable in the "enemy's" castle. He got an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"Hello", the tall man greeted as he removed his mask. Will indeed saw that this was the same lank man he had thrown in the cell only a week ago.

"Hello", Dani casually said as she carefully slipped a hand in a pocket she had on her dress where Will knew a sharp dagger was lying. Will took a small step forward, only to stand in front his friend. Will knew that Daniella could fight well, but he still didn't like the thought of his dear friend possibly getting hurt.

The tall man smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You, my _little friend_, have something that we need."

"Yeah..." Will slowly dragged the word out, ignoring the man's emphasis on his height. He was practically immune to those provocations. "Whatever it is that you want: you can't have it." He shrugged theatrically and then crossed his arms. Nonchalantly he raised his eyebrows in a confident manner. "Pretty stupid of you breaking your way into this castle, trying to corner me. Brave, but stupid."

"Oh really?" Now it was the Araluan that raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

"You mean besides the fact that you all _will _get caught, let's say, within thirty minutes?" Will smirked. "I'd say that you're pretty screwed."

"You seem pretty sure that we won't knock you out and lock you up in a room somewhere _before_ you even have the chance of warning the guards."

Will's smirk slowly faded. He strained his mouth, trying to look as if his head wasn't sore, but he knew that the tall man could see through it. "Ha ha", he laughed without humour. "Really funny. That was a hilarious move from your part, by the way. Really clever."

The Araluan gave up a slight snort.

Will carefully put his papers down on a small table that was placed next to him, before he took another step forwards. "I have no other choice but to arrest you. Again."

The tall man removed himself from the wall and Will could imagine how the man would tower up over him if they got any closer to each other, but he didn't let that faze him.

"How's it going, Gil?"

Will resisted the urge of wincing when he heard the addition of a new, deep voice. The shorter and older man was now leaning against the wall a little bit behind...Gil, was it?

"Geez", he heard Daniella mutter behind him, and he understood what she meant. They hadn't even noticed that the older man had approached them.

"Well", Gil answered the man without turning around. It was as if he knew the older man was there already. "I've got our friend Torres and his companion cornered here, but he doesn't seem too worried about that. Seemes to me that he thinks he'll be able to take us both down."

Daniella almost frowned in annoyance. Typical men, always excluding the women. But more than often that worked in her favour, for she always managed to give them a surprise. She gripped the dagger she was so familiar with and pursed her lips.

The older man raised his eyebrow and Will almost gulped. Almost. "How's the head?" He asked him and gestured to Will's forehead.

Will's face remained neutral. "Just fine, _thank you._" He could almost hear how they both inwardly laughed at him. "Aren't you Araluans just filled with manners?" He couldn't help to add a sarcastic touch to it.

"Let's hurry up", the older man said with a straight face to his younger friend, who nodded. Time seemed to run out for them? Suddenly the Araluans both quickly strode towards them, but Will was already prepared.

A quick exchange of looks between him and his trusted friend was all he needed before they drew out their sharp daggers from underneeth their clothing. As the tall man was quickly making his way on to Will, since they were closer to each other, Will was already taking rapid steps towards him. Wanting to take out the ones closest to him. He ducked, twirled and _cling!_, their both knives collided.

The tall man seemed a bit surprised and Will almost snorted. What, he thought Will only signed papers for living? He couldn't be more wrong. As the man, Gil, quickly regained his posture Will managed to get the upper hand and produced another sharp knife with his left hand. He didn't waste no time, but quickly aimed to jab the man in the gut. However the tall man seemed to predict his move and dodged the knife while trying to do the same to him. Will twisted his body and was about to protect his torso, but surprisingly the Araluan didn't go for a killing stab but instead tried to immobilize his sword hand.

Will didn't have the time to process why the man hesitated on killing him, but his alertness to the theratening ranger in front of him made him reposition himself from his moves and dodged some fast jabs towards him before he managed to lock both of the older man's arms with one swift move and hit him in the face with his armbow with a none restrained force. So hard he almost thought he heard a small crack coming from the ranger's nose.

The other man stumbled backwards in complete surprise and Will was about to charge on the man once again, before he heard his name being shouted out.

"Will!"

Gabriella was shouting his name, and in only a milisecond, Will adverted his gaze from his opponent to see how his friend was doing. This proved to be a mistake; in that little moment the ranger managed to make him lose his balance by giving Will a right hook to his jaw. In surprise from the unexpected punch Will tumbled to the ground, but recovered quickly and managed to trip the tall man with his legs. As the man was falling Will swiftly retrieved the knife that had been kicked away from his hand and was about to make his killing move - easy and quick - until something bumped into his side.

Once again Will fell to his side and scowled in irritation when he noticed that Daniella was left unconscious by the wall. Though he was pleased to see that the older man hadn't made it out of the fight without a single scrath - his clothing was shredded and torn in plenty of places. Daniella never went down without a good fight, and Will knew that this man had plenty of experience in the art of war. The older man hadprobably tried to go easy on her at first. Will was pleased that the Araluan had gotten himself a surprise by underestimating his friend.

Will was about to get up on his feet but the tall man was casually pointing a throwing knife at him. A knife Will was certain that would hit him with just a flick of the man's wrist. So he leaned back at his elbows and did the only thing a defeated man can do lying on the ground - he glared. Panting and furious, all Will could do now was to scowl up at the two foreigners. This was not the ultimate situation to find yourself in - being forced to look up at two well trained foreigners.

"She doesn't have the key", the older man said, "but I know you do."

Question: how do you save time?

Answer: you play stupid.

"What key?"

"You know very well which key we're talking about", the taller one said with a hint of irritation. "You are the king's puppy, of course you have every key for every goddammed room in this building", he muttered.

"Hey, don't be disrespectful", Will dared to ignore the throwing-knife and swiftly got up on his feet. Lying on the floor made him more uneasy that he thought it would. "There's no need to use a demenaning nickname on me." He dusted off his hands. "Comparing me to a little dog won't work in your favor."

Will saw the exact moment when the older man had had enough with his try's of avoiding the question, but he didn't have the time to react when sudden strong hands grabbed Will's collar and pushed him up against the wall with a knife pressed against his throat.

The quick change of scenary almost threw him off guard and he lost his breath, but he regained his composure quickly. Or well, as quickly as you can with a knife threatening to take your life. The knife glistened in his peripheral vision, though he somehow managed to pretend as if it didn't faze him one bit. But Will had an uneasy feeling that the older man could see right through his act of nonchalance.

"Perhaps this will?" the man in front of him asked with a threatening gleam in his eyes.

"...perhaps it will", Will whispered. Would this man really kill him? Will didn't know the Araluans well enough to be the judge of that, but what he _did_ know was that Juandres' act against their island (with the kidnapping of the princess and whatnot) wasn't really working in his favour. "How about we try to bring this conversation down on a civilized level?"

Will could see how the older man nearly rolled his eyes at Will, no what he did next was worse that that. A punch landed on his stomach and made Will loose all air in his lungs and drop down on the floor from the unexpected act.

_At least the knife is off your throat_, he dryly thought.

Will thought he heard the man say; "Too late for that", and if it hadn't been for his aching body, he might've dreaded their upcoming actions more that he already did.

_Shit._

* * *

><p><strong>I like movies with fighting scenes, but I'm not quite sure how I am at writing them haha. Hopefully not too ridiculous...<strong>

**Anyway, hopefully you ain't too mad at me and perhaps can tell me what you thought of this chappie? :)**

**/JoJo**


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